Origin

In medieval times a tang was the forked tongue of a snake, which was believed to be its ‘sting’. The word goes back to Old Norse tangi ‘the point of a knife’. The idea of a piercing point lies behind the modern sense of ‘a penetrating flavour’.

noun

"Back to port," she shouts above the tang of the bell and rumble of the bus and I don't know if there's a driver or if there's someone swinging the mast to catch the nonexistent breeze to take us in another direction.

Origin

In medieval times a tang was the forked tongue of a snake, which was believed to be its ‘sting’. The word goes back to Old Norse tangi ‘the point of a knife’. The idea of a piercing point lies behind the modern sense of ‘a penetrating flavour’.

Origin

In medieval times a tang was the forked tongue of a snake, which was believed to be its ‘sting’. The word goes back to Old Norse tangi ‘the point of a knife’. The idea of a piercing point lies behind the modern sense of ‘a penetrating flavour’.